Housing Project Goes
Back to Drawing Board
Changes in disturbed acreage,
litigation stall project plans
By CASPAR EWIG
COOPERSTOWN
Further development of the proposed Bassett Hospital Averill Road housing project, for which the Cooperstown Board of Trustees had issued a special permit on January 5, has been stalled due to litigation instituted by adjacent property owners.
On January 18, 2023, Michael Swatling and Carolyn O’Brien filed a petition in the Madison County Supreme Court in which they alleged that the Cooperstown Board of Trustees applied an incorrect standard when analyzing the project’s environmental impact in light of the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. In their complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that the project should have been classified as a “Type 1 Action” since it is being constructed in the Glimmerglass Historic District. Instead, the village evaluated the project and issued its special permit as an “Unlisted Action,” and this improper designation requires that the special permit be annulled, the petition contends.
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